Shirley Horton represents San Diego County’s 78th Assembly District,
which includes portions of the City of San Diego and rural San
Diego County, as well as the communities of Chula Vista, Lemon
Grove and Spring Valley. She was elected in 2002 by a broad
coalition of local families who support her dedicated commitment
to improving our quality of life.

Assemblywoman Horton has strong local roots. She attended Robert
E. Lee Elementary School in Paradise Hills. She went to O’Farrell
Junior High School in Encanto, and continues to serve as a board
member of the O’Farrell Community Foundation. She then graduated
from Bonita Vista High School and received her Bachelor’s degree
from San Diego State University. Following graduation in 1976,
she started her own business and successfully ran it until
closing it to devote her career to public service.

Horton proved she could make the community a better place in
which to live, work, and do business as a member of the Chula
Vista Planning Commission. In 1994, she was elected the first
Asian American mayor of Chula Vista, then re-elected in 1998 with
72% of the vote.

As mayor, she increased the number of police on the streets,
improved local roads and public transportation to ease traffic,
worked with local schools to ensure that children were getting
the quality education they deserved, and built one of the
strongest records for environmental protection in the state. She
is a longtime supporter of veterans and worked tirelessly to
bring a home for aging and disabled veterans to Chula Vista, a
home recognized as one of the best in California.

Assemblywoman Horton has long been active in volunteer service
organizations including, Scripps Memorial Hospital Community
Advisory Board, the Chamber of Commerce, and the South Bay Family
YMCA. Her personal annual service project is to raise funds to
assist families of domestic violence. To keep good kids from
going bad, she co-founded the Police Activities League to promote
after-school, gang alternative, and abuse prevention programs (learn more here).

In her first year in the Assembly, Horton defined herself as a
leader in bi-partisan cooperation. In the face of the worst
budget crisis in state history, the Assemblywoman worked with
legislators from both parties to reach a budget compromise that
would stop the State from losing millions of dollars a day after
missing the budget deadline. Together the Bipartisan Group
authored the bill that served as a template for the Governor’s
California Recovery Plan – proving that bipartisanship can and
must work for the good of our State.

Top-ranked amongst freshman legislators whose bills were signed
into law in 2003, Horton introduced legislation to help reduce
traffic congestion, increase penalties for sex offenders, improve
services for seniors, support veteran’s homes, streamline
government, and to keep college fees affordable. She is a
committed, independent voice for our community who puts people
before politics. She has inspired many with her successful,
unanimously approved legislation that benefits community
residents.

During the current legislative session, Assemblywoman Horton
introduced legislation to improve the efforts of the Amber Alert
system, reduce wasteful government spending, and increase
penalties for illegal street racing.

She serves as Vice Chair of the Assembly Business and Professions
Committee and as a member of the Committees on Higher Education;
Labor & Employment; Water, Parks, & Wildlife; Jobs, Economic
Development, and the Select Committee on National Defense,
Technology & Jobs.